Topics

Twenty-six local elected officials from counties in the First Congressional District have endorsed Delegate Rob Wittman of Westmoreland County in his bid for the Republican nomination for Congress. Every Republican county chairman in Delegate Wittman’s 99th Legislative District has also endorsed Wittman. The Republican Party will nominate its congressional candidate on Nov. 10 at a Party Convention in Caroline County. The special election is Dec. 11.

[…]

They are: Admiral Robert Fountain, Westmoreland County, Larry Kile, King George County, Jeff Sili, Caroline County, Joan Blackstone, Lancaster County, Allen Webb, Northumberland County, and Deborah Harper, Richmond County.

The GOP contest already is mired in controversy. The Republican Party of Virginia is looking into complaints that the Caroline County Republican committee held an improper mass meeting Saturday.

The hastily called meeting was held in a private aircraft hangar near Sparta in rural Caroline and started before its scheduled starting time. Signs along the road leading to the landing field said “No Trespassing.” Representatives of two candidates complained it was over before they got there.

J.M. Sili, Caroline County GOP chairman who won election to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, said the hangar was one of the few places in the area large enough to accommodate a mass meeting. He said the no-trespassing signs were aimed at keeping hunters from parking on the landing field. Candidates were not allowed to speak, because there are too many, he said.

Sili acknowledged the meeting may have started before its scheduled time. Fifty-one people attended and elected nine delegates to tomorrow’s convention. The delegates are not pledged to any of the candidates, he said.

From the RPV’s “Handbook for Mass Meetings, Conventions and Party Canvasses”:“All mass meetings must be held in a public place. Frequently, mass meetings are held in public school auditoriums, council chambers, courtrooms, town halls, civic centers, libraries, etc. A private home is not allowed. A commercial space may be appropriate if it is also used for other public functions (such as a bank auditorium).” A private airplane hangar on someone’s private property seems highly suspect. But starting before the time stated in the Call is just plain wrong.